Can Robots Die?
by P-bodylover100
Summary: Here's a little crossover between Portal and Slender. Kronos finds himself in a dark forest, searching for eight pages...all alone, or so he thinks. P.S. Sorry guys, Katie's not in this one. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, everyone has played Slender except me, and so I decided I would give it a try. And guess what? I nearly peed myself. O_o I got up to 4 pages on my first and only attempt. And then shortly after, I got a brilliant and twisted idea. So, here it is. Enjoy.**

* * *

Kronos landed outside his apparatus vent and trudged into the Hub. He sat down next to a pile of weighted storage cubes and leaned back against them, dropping his portal gun to the floor.

GLaDOS had been working him ragged ever since yesterday when he solved his first test, and his battery was very low. He silently thanked GLaDOS for having the ability to recharge while in sleep mode.

Kronos shifted around until he was comfortable, and then drifted off to sleep mode. But then he began to hear strange noises. They sounded like...footsteps.

Kronos opened his optic.

It was dark, hundreds of tall brown things towered over him. What were they called again? Trees?

Not only that, but Kronos found himself able to move and look around. He turned and saw a chain link fence behind him.

Several questions were racing through the young bot's mind. What was this place? How did he get here? WHY was he here?

He waited a few seconds for something to happen. When nothing did, Kronos turned on his night vision.

Suddenly, a voice whispered in the air, soft but clear:

_"Collect all 8 pages..."_

Kronos's system instantly went into high alert, his optic darted around the forest for the source of the voice, realizing he had nothing to defend himself with. Not even his trusty ASHPD. He wasn't exactly sure what he'd do with it anyway; whack things with it, maybe?

He stood still for a few more seconds. Not knowing what he was waiting for. When it seemed nothing was going to happen, Kronos started walking.

It was very quiet. He heard some crickets chirping, and in the distance, an owl was hooting. But somehow, the sounds seemed muffled, muted by a strange quiet that tried to drown out everything but the crunching of the dirt and grass under his metal feet. There were clearings and clusters of trees all around him. In some places, they gave the appearance of a path.

_"I don't know what I'm doing."_ Kronos beeped softly to himself.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something other than a tree. Something big, and rust-red. A few steps closer, and he realizes it's a big tower; kind of like those "silos" he saw from pictures of the surface.

Something on the side of the silo thing flashes white in the infra-red light of his night vision. He walks over to investigate, and he sees a piece of paper with a faceless stick figure and the words "DON'T LOOK…OR IT TAKES YOU" scratched on it in black ink.

_"Don't look, or it takes me? What does that mean?"_ Kronos said to himself.

He remembered his instructions to collect eight pages, and he guessed that must be one of them.

With an uncertain shrug, Kronos took the piece of paper off the wall of the silo. It didn't appear to be stuck on by anything in particular, and it came down easily. Suddenly, he heard a thud in the distance. Even though it sounded far away, he still jump.

A second later, he heard it again.

He held very still. The thuds continued, almost sounding like a heartbeat. And it didn't seem to be getting any closer…

"Well, now I know what I'm supposed to do; I guess the rest of the pages must be around here somewhere." Kronos thought as he started start walking again.


	2. Chapter 2

After only a little farther, Kronos found a large tree that seemed to stand apart from the others. It was larger than the rest, and it had no green things on it.  
Strange.

Kronos took a look at all sides of it, hoping there was a page. But there was nothing. He gave up and turned back in the direction he was heading, when he caught sight of something else. Something tall, black, white and slender.

It looked like a person. Like a tall, slender man.

At that moment, Kronos stood still, waiting for him to...do something. But he didn't. He just stood there, staring at Kronos, but he had no face - just a pale white head that almost seemed to glow in the infra-red light of Kronos's night vision. The slim, tall man reached his arms out for Kronos, not moving his body, whispering.

**"Come to me...you have no choice...come to me, child..."**

Kronos leaned backwards, his body acting on its own, automatically yearning to get away from him. But his intelligence kept him still, and the fear kept his eyes trained on the form, watching, and the thought of turning his back on it and running seemed so incredibly unbearable, even more unbearable than standing and facing it.

_"How far is he from me?"_ Kronos' thoughts raced through his mind. It never even occurred to him to move his legs as he stared, his optic wide and pupil expanded in the dim light, staring so sharply, watching so very closely, that dark form. It had to be a trick...

The man's leg moved.

Actually, it didn't move, but he moved...like sliding, maybe his feet dragged across the grass, but there was no sound. No sound except Kronos' motor running so very fast, faster than he'd ever heard before, and the man moved straight towards him.

Somehow it moved. So slowly, though, but so strange and so, so frightening.

And Kronos stayed, he was stuck, each grain of sandy, rocky packed dirt holding the metal of feet against the ground. His mind wrapped around it but flinched back, his sanity whimpered like a wounded animal as he tried to comprehend this thing that was impossible to contemplate, let alone to see.

And he saw it. He watched it move towards him down the dirt path.

Slowly, Kronos felt himself starting to get dizzy, and his vision started to blur. He felt like he was being drained of all his energy...  
Suddenly, he remembered the words of the page he was holding: "DON'T LOOK...OR IT TAKES YOU".

He had to run. He had to run. Run! Run, move legs, move away...but he had to watch it.

No!...

But...so strange, his rushing internal workings suddenly felt so cold, his body felt real again.

Real!

Run! Kronos tore his gaze away from the eerie figure among the trees, and like at a gunshot, he turned and ran before his thoughts could stop his body.

And he was gone. He'd never run that fast in his entire life. He felt like crying for his mother, too, but he had to run, and he couldn't scream, he felt like the sound of his own voice box would bring about his doom.

He ran so hard, he didn't remember how far or how long. Not daring to look back.

The low, distant sound like a heartbeat continued to pulsate in the distance. He ran hard, still unable to look behind him. Not until he ran into an open space with nothing but an empty building.

But oh no, it was there. Kronos stopped running abruptly, his mechanical feet aching. He wasn't built to sprint for long distances, and the pain made things too real, so terrifyingly real. He felt his oil rushing through him, so loud in his motor. He couldn't scream, but his body screamed for him.

It was there.

And even closer now! It was there. He could see it clearer, bigger. Oh, the details, how it looked standing there, Kronos's mind reeled.

He forgot everything, forgot his world, forgot how to call for help.

Nothing existed but him, and that thing.

And it moved closer. Kronos was locked on him like a vice. He couldn't bear to move.

It came closer to him, slowly, not walking but sliding almost, across the ground, maybe floating just off the surface. It seemed to lack momentum, it stayed upright, so still.

It came out of the shelter of the trees in front of Kronos, and his light... shone on it, the glaring green light of his optic hit the mysterious man and his black form, like a living shadow but with shape. Alive, and dead, and so silent, but moving.

All of a sudden, it stopped moving, standing in front of him, twenty feet away. Kronos looked into it's non-existant face.

It's limbs moved up, curled, black shadows with substance, stretched.

It's arms stretched towards me. Two arms, three, four, Kronos saw it had many. He thought he would die that moment. They stretched past him, away, around, stretched past his feet and his core, circled him like black snakes. Kronos jumped, and he brought his hands up to his core. His fingers curled into fists, covering his optic in terror, beeping in fright as he stared at his stalker.

One of it's arms brushed against his core, and it was cold. Kronos was surprised, still frozen as it moved closer. He saw one of it's feet lift off of the ground and step slowly closer, silently. It's arms outstretched, all around the small bot, until they were wrapped tightly around his body, it's hands around his core. Kronos yelped as it squeezed tightly, whispering in his mind.

**"Kronos..."**

It's hands tightened around his core, and began to lift him high into the air. With shaking hands Kronos grabbed the black arm with his fingers, tried to pry it off of his core. It felt like nothing. His fingers slid off like it was made of water, cold seared across his fingers and through his mechanical body.

His energy draining and his vision starting to blur, Kronos gave in to the whispering, letting go of his consciousness. He looked one last time into the place where his killer's eyes should have been, and saw...

...GLaDOS?

"Kronos. Get up." he heard his creator's voice.

_"Ugh...huh...?" _Kronos mumbled, blinking to adjust his vision.

He was lying on the floor. He saw GLaDOS's claws dangling over him, shaking him awake. He wished he couldn't remember it, but he could still hear the echo of the slender man's voice when he opened his eye to the bright light of the Hub. His motor was still rushing in his core as GLaDOS pulled him out of the nightmare. He sat up and curled himself into a little metal ball for a while as he tried to calm himself down. But his mind told him that only P-body could protect him. The tall, orange-eyed bot was the only being able to shield him from his dream's harmful illusions.

As if on cue, Kronos felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped a little at the sudden touch, and turned to see his mother. Kronos instantly threw his arms around her and held her close, still trembling.

_"It's alright...I'm here..."_ she cooed in their garbled robotic language.

Kronos sighed, relief washing over him. Her comfort was more than enough.


End file.
